3. Description of the fibers we use:

Glass Fiber Fabrics

We produce both woven yarn products and woven roving products.
What glass works for you?
For our light weight fabrics we commonly use E-glass. E-glass has great properties for most applications. However, if you have special strength needs we can supply you material made with S2 glass. It is expensive, but if you require high strength and higher temp applications, S2 may be for you.
For our heavier weight fabrics we offer E-glass and OCV’s Advantex glass. Advantex glass is very similar to ECR glass and it has great corrosion resistance properties. It is comparable in price to E-glass.
To optimize a fabric for your application we can supply fabrics with a specific weight and construction to ensure high performance. At a cost much lower than Basalt Glass, Kevlar or Carbon Fabrics.
We stock 6 and 9 oz (200 and 300 gram) tape products in widths from 1 “ to 12” (25-305 mm). Depending on tape width and customer requirements, roll length ranges from 15 to 1300 yard (13 to 1200 m)
We also stock 15,18,and 24 oz (530, 600 and and 800 g) woven roving. Roll length is 137 yd (125 m), 100 yd (90 m), 77 yd (70 m).
We stock special fabrics for repeat customers.
For the sporting goods market we weave coloured ends in the fabric for appearance and as tracers.

Basalt glass fabrics

Basalt is a hard, dense, dark volcanic rock composed chiefly of plagioclase, pyroxene, and olivine, and often having a glassy appearance. The name “basalt” is usually given to a wide variety of dark-brown to black volcanic rocks, which form when molten lava from deep in the earth’s crust rises up and solidifies. Basalt deposits frequently cover areas on many thousands of square kilometers. Basalt differs from granite in being a fine-grained extrusive rock and having a higher content of Iron and Magnesium. The density of basalt rock is between 2.8 and 2.9 g/cm³. It is also extremely hard – 5 to 9 on Mho’s scale. This gives basalt a superior abrasion resistance and casted basalt is often used as a paving and building material. While the commercial applications of cast basalt have been well known for a long time, it is less known that basalt can be formed into continuous fiber having unique mechanical and chemical properties.
Basalt Fiber is very strong, very resistant to fatigue failure and can be used in very high temp applications. Our products are presently used in high temperature filtration applications. It is brown coloured and when used in a resin, will remain brown coloured. The basalt glass we use is epoxy resin compatible; it remains visible in the resin.
We use basalt fibers of 300 and 600 tex, however 100 tex fibers are available. We can weave this in any pattern and in widths up to 192 cm or 75”.

Aramid Fiber

GBRF uses aramid fiber made by Dupont, commonly known as Kevlar®. Kevlar® is very strong, very wear resistant, low weight and is not inflammable. It stands up very well to abrasion. It can be used up to 160ºC without loss of tensile strength. It is sensitive to light, but is very stable within a resin matrix. Our Kevlar® products are mostly used in the sporting goods market, but applications are very wide spread. It is more expensive than glass.
We weave Kevlar® in plain and twill patterns, but are able to weave most patterns. Kevlar products are not stored, but made to order.

Carbon fibers

Carbon is extremely strong, is conductive, has good high temperature properties and is very low in weight. Carbon does not stand up well to abrasion, and needs to be protected. In a matrix it is the strongest of all our fibers for a given weight. Our products go into the sporting goods market, but can be used in many other applications. It is more expensive than glass.
We weave fabrics with 3, 6 and 12k fibers. Our carbon tapes are only available in a uni-directional pattern, with the carbon running in the length direction.